The new company, which will also represent his older brother Jamie, will be called 77 – a reflection both of the 77 years that Britain waited for another male Wimbledon champion to follow Fred Perry, and the date of this summer’s final: July 7.

For the past six years, Murray (like Beckham) has been represented by XIX, the management company founded by entertainment impresario Simon Fuller. This is far from being a complete break as Fuller will be the chairman of the new company while Murray’s long-standing agent, Matt Gentry, is its managing director.

There have been concerns that few large deals have flowed on from Murray’s successes – the Olympic gold medal 13 months ago followed by the US Open title last year and Wimbledon this year.

Yet Murray is maintaining his working relationship with the former Indian doubles player Mahesh Bhupathi, who began representing him in the commercial field in March.

Murray’s new manager, Ugo Colombini, is also part of the 77 project. However, Colombini has not been able to continue representing his previous client Juan Martín del Potro, the world No 7, with whom he had worked for 12 years.

Colombini also joined the Murray camp in March, and at that time Del Potro told The Daily Telegraph that it would be possible for both men to share the same manager without conflict. “I have known Ugo since I was 12 years old,” he said, “and I know Andy from the same age – we played many, many times together.”

In practice, however, tennis players tend to be wary of any potential leaks from their aides de camp. Del Potro and Colombini parted company last month.

With comment of Murray":Andy Murray has taken another leaf out of David Beckham's book by forming his own management company in partnership with Simon Fuller. The new company, which is called "77" in recognition of Murray's achievement in ending Britain's 77-year wait for a men's singles champion at Wimbledon on 7 July this year, will manage the affairs of both the world No 3 and his brother, Jamie.

Fuller, who originally found fame managing the Spice Girls, recruited Murray to his XIX Entertainment stable five years ago alongside Beckham and the Formula One driver, Lewis Hamilton. The move towards setting up the new company is similar to the way in which Fuller's partnership with Beckham has moved from a management set-up into a business relationship.

Murray's new company will be a long-term vehicle for many of the Scot's business interests. It will look into ventures involving events in tennis and other sports, including tennis academies. The company will also seek to manage other individuals.

The business team around Murray – who has become the third player, after Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, to qualify for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena – will remain largely unchanged. Matt Gentry, who will continue to handle the Scot's media affairs, will become managing director, while Fuller will be the chairman.

Mahesh Bhupathi, the Indian doubles player who is retiring at the end of this season, and Ugo Colombini, a long-term associate of Juan Martin del Potro, will continue in the roles they took up earlier this year. Bhupathi, whose remit will include new business, is looking to exploit the Scot's potential in the Far East, while Colombini is in charge of his tournament schedule. Neil Grainger and Grenville Evans, who have advised on Murray's financial and business affairs respectively, will remain in place.

Murray said in a statement: "The new company will allow me more freedom and the chance to become more involved in my business affairs."

The iloveandymurray twitter feed retweeted some messages from an Andy fan that had contacted the newspaper. The woman said the paper apologised and said the parts about Andy's background could be "potentially confusing" and the article had been amended. The part that mentioned Dunblane has been removed.

What an offensive and mean-spirited article. He's not much of a tennis fanatic if he thinks Fed hasn't smashed a racquet since his teens. A ridiculous article on so many levels.

BTW what sort of Scot or Brit spells criticise with a 'z'.

Interesting, thanks.

Normally, I'm quite good at accepting the right of fans to criticise irrationally, or for journalists to be mean spirited, but there were several things about it that continued to niggle me. It felt like the sort of hatchet job you'd get in the pseudo-showbiz bit of the Daily Mail, where they stick the boot into someone famous, along with a few made-up facts, but book-end it with the pretence of wanting the best for them. Yet even the Daily Mail in full blown stupid and hateful mode wouldn't have dared to bring up the events of Dunblane like that. All made worse by saying he was a tennis fanatic and sometimes sports writer, giving the false impression that he knew what he was talking about.

A lot of people seem to think that anyone in the public eye, especially the rich ones, are fair game, and that they can take it. What hateful people often fail to notice is that some of their criticisms are not actually specific to the successful person, but apply to others. By stating that Andy should be over the events of Dunblane by now, he was saying the same of the rest of the town. Beyond Dunblane, a lot of people never get over tragic events that happened years earlier, and it's not for some two-bit journalist to give time limits. I bet he's the sort of person who thinks he's helping when advising someone with depression to "pull themselves together".

Thanks for the link to the article matchpoint. I'd seen mention of Andy changing the name of the company that manages his interests, but that explains that it's a bit more than a cosmetic change. Very interesting. Definitely still Fuller's influence in the name - he loves his numbers, lol.

Andy sets up new management venture with Simon Fuller - 77News - Wednesday, September 11 2013 Andy, the current Wimbledon and Olympic Champion, has set up a new management company, 77, with his long-time mentor Simon Fuller.

The new company, which is based in London, will look after Andy and Jamie Murray’s interests on and off the court and the arrangement will start immediately.

Simon Fuller, who has managed Andy for the last five years, becomes Andy’s business partner and will continue to provide strategic direction for the new venture.

Matt Gentry, who previously looked after all Andy’s PR and media at XIX Entertainment, will oversee operations as Managing Director and will work with Mahesh Bhupathi, whose remit will include new business and sales, and Ugo Colombini, who will continue to be responsible for all tournament-related activity.

Andy said: “The new company will allow me more freedom and the chance to become more involved in my business affairs. I’ve got a great team of people around me who I trust, both on and off the court, which in turn allows me to completely focus on my tennis. I look forward to working with the team on the next stage of my career. The choice of name, 77, is symbolic and means a lot to me – the wait for a Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion and the final being played on the 7th of July.”

Simon Fuller, Andy’s business partner, said: “Andy has had a phenomenal 12 months, it has been so exciting to watch him come of age as a true sporting champion. The future has no boundaries. Having been Andy’s manager for the past 5 years and now being able to evolve this relationship into a business partner and Chairman of his new company 77, brings with it endless opportunity. This now allows us to work more directly and closer together than ever before.”

sparkle I do hope Independent hasn't let Paul Newman go. While he's not as amusing as Kev in the Guardian he knows his tennis and is always very fair in what he writes.

It was one of the other tennis correspondents (forget which one) that tweeted about it recently, and it seems there were a few of their regular sports writers in the same situation. I think he still writes for them, so it could just be they were let go, then offered modified contracts with less guaranteed work, or are now free-lance. It opens the doors for less qualified, and presumably less expensive writers to pitch articles, who are also far more likely to be tempted to write something controversial to grab attention. A proper sports correspondent will know they have to stand by everything they write when they meet up with their peers, not to mention the subject.

ah thanks for the explanation Sparkle. I noticed he still had pieces in today's Independent. I think there may be a few tennis writers in that position eg I notice Simon Cambers pops up in different places. A shame when British tennis at the elite level is at its strongest for some time.

I think it would be a shame if slams did go to 3 though can see the case for it. Perhaps they could keep 5 sets for the final stages to differentiate them from other tournaments?Thought he was also interesting on Nole - lost it mentally at least for now and Fed - finely calibrated machine that breaks down the minute it's slightly off. Interesting too that he echoed one of the themes on MW that it was a rather boring USO - all that base line slugging and the touch players not doing that well was his take on it.